To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
...That genius is a rare exception (:) It's not true. Talent and genius have been wasted on enormous scale throughout our history;… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in shaping history.… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
“Most often in history it was the conquerors who learned willingly from the conquered.” — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era of events.… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new;… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
When grubbing for necessities man is still an animal. He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction and between profession and practice - that is to say with a… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
“In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes--courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc.--can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others. The impression somehow prevails that the… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
A nation without dregs and malcontents, is orderly, decent, peaceful and pleasant, but perhaps without the seed of things to come — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
